Study: Want to Drop a Few Pounds? Lie in Bed

Next time your alarm clock sounds, you can hit the snooze button in good conscience: sleeping in may help you lose fat.A study released Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared two groups of people who were trying to lose weight. One was randomly assigned to sleep 5.5 hours each night for two weeks, while the other was able to sleep 8.5 hours. The study found that the sleep-deprived group had higher levels of ghrelin — a hormone that drives appetite. The New York Times reports:

“The bottom line is that if people are trying to diet and lose weight for health reasons, it makes sense to get a sufficient amount of sleep,” said Dr. Plamen D. Penev, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and the senior author of the study. “If they’re not getting enough sleep as they diet, they may have higher levels of hunger and be struggling to adhere to the regimen.”